bits – a new pc imaging model tim leamy – uc davis robert smith – stanford university allan...
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BITS – A New PC Imaging Model
Tim Leamy – UC DavisRobert Smith – Stanford UniversityAllan Chen – Stanford University
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 3
Outline• Overview of imaging tools• Common Obstacles• UC Davis
– Tackling the problem– Identifying a solution– Implementation
• Stanford– Modifications– Roadmap to deployment– Current Status
• Contact info• Q&A
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 4
Imaging Tools
• Symantec Ghost• Altiris• Novell• UIU/Sysprep• PC-Rdist• PC-Radmind• Deep Freeze• Active Directory
– MSI packages
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 5
VariousObstacles• Client-server
connectivity/reliability• Multicast vs. Unicast• Dealing with the registry• Knowing machines are up
to date• Machine downtime
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 6
UC Davis
• 30,000 students• 17 computer rooms• 10 separate networks
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 7
UC Davis
• Win 9X – used PC-Rdist• Win XP – switched to Ghost
– Attempted to use one Ghost console for labs on multiple subnets
– Attempted to multicast across routers
• Encountered difficulties with Ghost tools working across different networks
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 8
UC Davis• Eureka moment – Ghost uses
“virtual partitions” – why not use real ones?
• Created two partitions on hard drive– FreeDOS partition
• 4GB initially with FreeDOS, Ghost, and image files
– WinXP partition• Rest of disk
• Used PC-Rdist to copy ghost image files to FreeDOS partition
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 9
UC Davis
• Worked ok – Very fast to ghost from one
partition to the other– Simple – put new image on
server and it was copied to all clients
– Could manage images for all labs from my office
– But …
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 10
UC Davis
• Problems– PC-Rdist took a while to
copy down image files– Could make a PC unusable
for 15 minutes in middle of day
– Copying image to entire lab was very slow
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 11
UC Davis
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)– Used for Windows Automatic
Updates• Already Built into XP• Robust
– Uses “spare” bandwidth to download files in background
• No disruption to student use
– Uses standard web protocols
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 12
UC Davis
• Switch to BITS– Moved images to web
servers– Downloaded bitsadmin.exe – Created bits.pl script– Used cron for true
automation
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 13
UC Davis
• Worked Great!– Images transferred in
background– Very reliable – copy image
up and all PCs restored the next morning
– Fast – PC have only ~10 minutes downtime for imaging
– Easy to manage images
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 14
Stanford
• 10,000 residents• 2 large clusters• 77 residential clusters• Separate “administrative”
and residential networks– Varying degrees of control– Varying state of upgrades,
functionality, multicast, etc
• Symantec Ghost
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 15
Major Problem
• Symantec Ghost issues led to:– Unreliable deployment– Inconsistent state of images from
location to location– Relied on local Resident
Computer Consultants for imaging
• Did not always re-image when needed, but we still heard the complaints when things did not work
– General embarrassment
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 16
Search fora Solution• Other similar products (e.g.
Altiris)– Cost– Not sure it would fix problem
• Develop our own– PC-Radmind
• Registry complexity
• February 2006– Lots of research, but still at
crossroads
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 17
BATCHe
• “Inspired” by SIGUCCS• Bay Area regional interest
group dealing with educational technology, support, etc
• Tim Leamy’s presentation on BITS– Ease of deployment– No “funny” protocols– We were sold
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 18
Modifications
• FreeDOS– Obtain IP through DHCP for
initial rollout
• Bits.pl– Time when “restore” file is
created
• Partition table– 3 partitions instead of 2
• That’s it!!
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 19
Roadmap toDeployment• April/May – connectivity,
speed, load testing on multiple networks
• May/June – initial implementation of modified bits.pl
• August – successful full build, married!!
• September – images deployed with FreeDOS, but without cron.tab
• October – full implementation in clusters
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 20
BITSImpressions• Easy to setup
– Current bits.pl is setup to work in any environment
• Easy to maintain– Simple web server is all that
is needed
• Confidence that all computers will get current images– Once set up, has
consistently worked
November, 2006 SIGUCCS Fall Conference 21
Contact Us
• UC Davis BITS Website– http://lm.ucdavis.edu/people/tim/lab/winxp/winxp.html
• Tim Leamy– [email protected]
• Rob Smith– [email protected]
• Allan Chen– [email protected]